In game we trust? Coplay and generalized trust in and beyond a Chinese MMOG world

ABSTRACT

Although an emerging literature has demonstrated social and civic potentials of massively multiplayer online games, few studies have assessed their implications for generalized trust. Drawing on a large sample of Chevaliers’ Romance III (CR3) players, this research examines how gamers’ motivational, behavioral, and relational factors are related to generalized trust in China. Adopting a coplaying-centered approach, results show that generalized trust is enabled and constrained by teammate preference, coplay patterns, and motivations. Competence preference in teammates, having more weak-tie confidants as coplayers, and competition motivation are positively, while homophily preference in teammates, having more strong-tie confidants as coplayers, and socializing motivation are negatively associated with generalized trust. This research highlights the importance of contextualizing gaming implications in specific social and institutional contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Generalized trust
• massively multiplayer online games (MMOGS)
• homophily
• core discussion network
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr. Wenhong Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radio-TV-Film and (by courtesy) the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research has focused on the social implications of digital media and communication technologies in multiethnic, entrepreneurial, and civic settings. Dr Chen’s work has been published in top-tier journals in the fields of communication and media studies, management, and sociology. She is the lead editor of the book Networked China: Global dynamics of digital media and civic engagement (with Stephen Reese, Routledge 2015). [email: [email protected]].

Dr. Cuihua Shen is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication, University of California, Davis. Her research and teaching interests revolve around the structure and impact of social networks in virtual worlds. She matches big data from behavioral logs with smaller data collected from surveys and experiments. Dr Shen has published her work in top-ranked journals such as Communication Research, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, New Media & Society, Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, and Management Communication Quarterly. Her recent research on massively multiplayer online game has been featured in major media outlets. [email: [email protected]]

Gejun Huang is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. His research has focused on the gaming industry and mobile media. He has published in the area of social media use and has presented papers in national and international conferences. [email: [email protected]]

Notes

1. Economists, political scientists, sociologists, and psychologists have argued about the nature, form, and impact of trust. Trust, as a seemingly simple yet complicated concept, has attracted attention from multiple disciplines (see reviews in Nannestad, 2008; Rousseau, Sitkin, Burt, & Camerer, 1998).

2. We have controlled factors such as coplaying in netcafe and using game mechanics. Their inclusion or exclusion does not affect the hypotheses or research questions examined in Table 2. Thus, for the sake of parsimony, these variables are not included in the results presented here.